Thursday, January 20, 2011

How Did I Get Here? Packaging in Review

In the process of revamping our web site (almost ready) and producing some informal "how-to" videos (still working on them) about Intercept Technology packaging, I began to reflect upon my reason for being involved in the packaging business. Here are my thoughts:

When Joe and I began Liberty Packaging Co., Inc., as a part-time venture 15 years ago, we were enamored of the Intercept products and how miraculous they seemed. Intercept prevents corrosion and drains a static charge at the perfect rate to prevent damage to the products inside, for short or long-term storage, when shipping and storing anywhere in the world. Amazing! A single material that has these capabilities, that does NOT include oils or volatiles, does not outgas or particle shed and is safe for handlers. Fantastic! It works for metals, large machinery, small parts, electronics, rubber and more. We had never heard of any single packaging material that had so many positive attributes. Materials test results substantiated these performance claims and we knew that Bell Labs/Lucent had been using Intercept to package some of its own products for a number of years with great success.

At that time, the possible applications for Intercept Packaging seemed limitless and we got to work finding the manufacturers and other organizations who would see the value of such a versatile material. Because Intercept is a disruptive technology in the packaging field, we found that manufacturers felt the need to do their own testing of the product to be sure it could work for them. Along the way we've gained some loyal customers and enlightened many manufacturers who have been able to reduce the time spent to package their products or parts, reduce the space required to package (no vacuuming required) and even reduce the materials required to package. Safe, clean, easy to use, reusable, recyclable material, Intercept is like a dream come true for these customers.

The jewel of test results is a recently-published paper from Alcatel/Lucent, which quantifies its own testing of Static Intercept. The news is all good: in comparing the use of Static Intercept bags with traditional metalized shield bags for the protection of sensitive electronics, Static Intercept showed superior performance in tests of environmental impact, ESD dissipation, atmospheric pollution and corrosion testing. I won't address all of the points here as the paper is highly detailed, but the conclusion states: "This paper has demonstrated the environmental benefits packaging can have on the storage, shipment, and protection of sensitive electronic components - a 40-fold reduction in GWP (global warming potential). The benefits are shown to be present throughout the entire product lifecycle, but most noticeably in the use phase where the superior protection qualities of the Static Intercept bag are multiplied into environmental benefits."

This paper published by Bell Labs Technical Journal shows that the Static Intercept material has significant environmental and cost advantages over the metalized shield bag.

Liberty Packaging is on the right track - given this validation from Bell Labs, I feel good about my path. And remain astonished by the seemingly magical capabilities of Intercept packaging materials. If your company is interested in corrosion and static protective packaging, and in reducing its environmental impact, or you'd like a copy of "Reducing Environmental Impact and Increasing Reliability Through Packaging: A Lifecycle Assessment Approach", please contact us here.